Three news stories from Africa this weekend reveal Seventh-day Adventist leadership to be very cozy with Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe. New Zimbabwereports on the Sunday wedding of a prominent Adventist which included Mugabe as an honored guest.

Mugabe floored guests at a wedding over the weekend with the humorous story as he once again publicly stated his opposition to polygamy.

“For marriages of this nature, our law allows one man to marry one woman and we should respect that," Mugabe said on Sunday, speaking at the wedding of his farm manager’s daughter at a Harare sports club.

Mugabe, a Catholic, hailed the Seventh Day Adventist Church which solemnised the wedding of Cynthia Nhari, the daughter of Gushungo Dairy Farm manager Stanley Nhari, to Charles Mupakuwana. . . .Mugabe also used the occasion to dabble in a popular theme: homosexual-bashing. He described same-sex marriages as “evil affairs”.

"The story of love began a long time ago. Marriages are good and the idea should not be spoiled by evil affairs involving men and men. No to homosexuality!, and that remains our slogan. We totally agree with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church on that. Forward with weddings, and weddings should be between a man and a woman only,” he said.

PRESIDENT Mugabe has hailed the Seventh-Day Adventist Church choral music describing it as the best and well-organised type of music. He made the remarks after listening to the melodious voices of the Advent Ambassadors at a wedding ceremony held at FBC Sports Club in Harare on Sunday.

The President urged other churches to take a cue from the SDA church and come up with good music.

"Of all the churches, SDA has the best music. . . . The President posed for a photograph with the 19-member Advent Ambassadors choral group and they sang two songs while he was among them.

"Our main aim is to preach the Three Angels' Message to the world through singing. We are invited all over the country and outside Zimbabwe for weddings and different other occasions," said Mr Dube.

Mugabe has garnered almost world-wide criticism for destroying his country's economy, murdering citizens, and saying things like, "Hitler has only one objective: justice for his people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people and their rights over their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold."

In light of his record, the following statement, recorded in the Zimbabwe Guardian, is particularly troubling.

Speaking at the same occasion SDA Church vice president for Southern Indian Ocean Division Pastor Paminus Machamire hailed the President for the anti-homosexuality stance saying the church was in support of the idea.

“President Mugabe preaches the same gospel we preach. A marriage should only be possible between a man and a woman. It shows that our President once passed through our Solusi University,” said Pastor Machamire.

That's an interesting signifier for an Adventist education. Yes, those words were reportedly spoken by Paminus Machamire [pictured at the top], one of four Zimbabweans elevated to the division during the most recent General Conference session. (The division is the next highest office to the General Conference.) One wonders if the rest of Mugabe's legacy also "shows that "our President" once passed through our Solusi University"?

Previous to this, Machamire was president of the church in Botswana. In the current Seventh-day Adventist Online Yearbook, Machamire is listed as one of two vice presidents for the Southern Indian Ocean Division of Seventh-day Adventists. In light of Pastor Machamire's words, and the other events on Sunday, major newspapers in Africa are noting the close relationship Mugabe seems to have with elite Seventh-day Adventists.